The Batcave was silent except for the quiet hum of computers.
Several massive screens illuminated the dark cavern, casting pale blue light across rows of equipment, vehicles, and weapon racks. At the center of it all sat Bruce Wayne, still wearing parts of his suit, his cape draped over the back of his chair.
On the central screen were two files.
Both nearly empty.
That alone bothered him.
Batman hated unknown variables.
He leaned back slightly in his chair, fingers steepled together as the recorded footage from the Black Mask incident replayed again.
Kakuzu.
The mercenary.
Even the name was uncertain. It had come from one of Black Mask's surviving men during interrogation, but criminals often lied.
Still, Bruce saved the name to the file.
On the screen, the footage showed Robin flying across the room after Kakuzu casually flicked him away.
Bruce paused the video.
Enhancement algorithms ran automatically.
Muscle movement analysis.
Reaction timing.
Impact calculations.
The results appeared beside the footage.
Bruce frowned.
"Superhuman," he muttered quietly.
Kakuzu's reaction speed alone exceeded what a normal human should be capable of. Even Bruce himself, at the absolute peak of human conditioning, had struggled just to keep up.
And Kakuzu hadn't even seemed serious.
Bruce rewound the footage further.
The moment Kakuzu used his wind technique played again.
A single hand sign.
Then a blast of compressed air that tore apart furniture like paper.
Bruce zoomed in on Kakuzu's hands.
Hand signs.
A martial technique of some kind.
Or perhaps a focus method for triggering whatever ability he possessed.
Bruce saved the data.
Then he opened the second file.
Subject: Unknown — "Pain"
The image displayed was from security footage at the Iceberg Lounge massacre.
Orange hair.
Pierced face.
Black cloak covered in red clouds.
Most striking of all—
The eyes.
Bruce zoomed in.
The ripple-pattern purple eyes stared back from the screen.
Even through grainy footage they looked… unnatural.
Bruce leaned forward slightly.
This man had slaughtered the entire Iceberg Lounge.
Dozens of criminals.
Security guards.
Even Oswald Cobblepot.
The footage showed him walking through gunfire without hesitation.
Bullets missing him by inches.
As if he knew exactly where they would land before they were fired.
Bruce switched to the next clip.
Pain raising his hand.
The room exploding outward as if gravity itself had been reversed.
Tables. bodies. walls.
Everything blasted away from him.
Bruce paused the video again.
Another anomaly.
"Telekinetic ability," Bruce said quietly.
But that wasn't all.
The black rods.
Bruce pulled up the forensic images from the crime scene.
Dozens of strange black metal rods had been recovered from bodies.
The material composition still hadn't been identified.
Not steel.
Not titanium.
Not any alloy currently known.
Bruce sighed slightly.
He hated mysteries like this.
Two individuals.
Both wearing the same cloak.
Both displaying abilities far beyond normal human limits.
Both possessing highly advanced combat training.
Both apparently working for the same organization.
Bruce typed a new heading across the file.
Organization: AKATSUKI
Below it, he added the few confirmed facts he had.
Unknown origin.
Unknown leader.
Unknown member count.
Unknown objectives.
All he had were scattered pieces.
Two members.
Two encounters.
Two defeats.
Bruce leaned back in his chair again.
That part annoyed him the most.
He had survived both fights only because the enemy had left.
Not because he had won.
Not because he had even forced a retreat.
They had simply walked away.
Which meant one thing.
They didn't consider him a serious threat.
Bruce stared at the Akatsuki symbol on the screen.
The red cloud.
The same mark had been drawn across the Iceberg Lounge walls in blood.
It was a message.
A declaration.
Bruce spoke quietly into the empty cave.
"Alfred."
The voice came over the cave's intercom a moment later.
"Yes, Master Bruce?"
"I need satellite monitoring expanded."
"For Gotham, sir?"
Bruce shook his head slowly.
"For the entire planet."
There was a brief pause.
"That sounds… concerning."
Bruce stared at the symbol again.
"I've encountered two of them."
"And both were capable of defeating me."
Another pause.
Then Alfred's voice returned, slightly more serious.
"Do you believe they're connected?"
Bruce answered without hesitation.
"Yes."
He tapped the screen.
The red cloud symbol rotated slowly on the monitor.
"If this organization is small, we can handle it."
His eyes hardened slightly.
"But if there are more of them…"
Bruce closed the file.
"…then the Justice League is going to have a serious problem."
Far away, deep within a hidden mountain base in the middle of a rainforest—
The Akatsuki were only just beginning to move.